The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-02-08
Gagged In AND CREMATED!
FIFTY OR MORE LIVES LOST
IN A RAILROAD CRASH.
A Broken Rail Hurts Part of a Pas
senger Train into an Ice Locked
Gorge Fifty Feet Below the Road
Level

senser Train into an Ice Locked /
Gorge Fifty Feet Below the Road /
Level.
SPRINGFIELD, MASS, Feb. 5.-The /
night express to Montreal which left here
at S:l5 last night, ran off the bridge at
Woodstock, VT, two miles north of
White River junction, and the sleepers
and passenger cars and bridge were en-
tirely burned.
The train was filled with passengers
from Boston and New York bound for
the winter carnival. The accident oc-
CURED between and , O'Clock this mora
ing on the Vermont Central Railroad.
The train was an hour and half late
in leaving White River Junction. 1t
consisted of a locomotive, baggage car,
postal car, two passenger coaches and two
sleeping cars, and was running at the
usual rate of speed.
A BROKEN RAIL.
When about 200 yards south of the end
of the deck bridge, near Old Windsor
station, a broken rail was struck. The
locomotive, baggage and postal car broke
away from the rest of the train, passing
over the bridge in safety. The rest of
| the train was thrown from the rails and
| continued on the roadbed until it came
near the end of the bridge, but there il
ran over the abutment and all of the cars
Tell INTO w nItt river, SOfIit MY lttt De~
| low. The gorge at this point is frightful
/ and when the cars went down there was
a terrible crash. As soon as possible the
/ detached part of the train was stopped
/ and run back to the scene of the disaster.
/ The screams of the in ured were heart
/ rending. Assistance also came from
people living in the vicinity. and every
/ thing was done to rescue and relieve the
| injured.
| FIRE BREAKS OUT.
Soon after help arrived it was discov-
/ cred that fire had started in the first pas
/ senger coach, and soon the entire train
was ablaze, thus adding snew horror to
the already frightful castrOphe. Those
| present were poweTless to stop tine fire,
/ and devoted themselves entirely to at
tempting to rescue those imprisoned in
/ the wreck. The rcscuers met another
| and unexpected obstacle IN the heat,
which had become SO intense that they
/ We're obliged to relinquIsh their efforts to
/ save the sufferers al were compelled to
retreat to a place of safety for them
/ selves and to become unwilling and hor-
| -or stricken witnesses of the awful hOlO-
caust. In addition to this and to add To
the terrors and sufferings of the passen
gers, the weather was Intensely cold, and
the heroic rescuers were hindered there
| bv in their work. No water could be OBJ
Will WHICH 10 OT
| the flames. The ice was several inches
thick on the river, and there were no APP
pliances at hand to raise it.
FROM THIRTY TO FIFTY LIVES LOST.
1t has not been and probably never
will be possible to- tell accurately how
MANY lives have been lost. From the
best data Obtainable there were about
eighty persons in the four cars destroyed.
The lowest estimate places the probable
number of killed at thirty, and it is pos
sible that twi,e that number may be
correct, A great man were killed out
right by the tremendous fall and crush of
the cars but several cases are known
where people unhurt or only slightly in
jured were fastened in the wreck and
burned TO death. One lady and one gen
tleman We're rescued from sleeper.
badly bruised and almost naked. thei r
clothing being torn from them in hastily
pulling them out of reach of the fire.
The night was freezing cold, and but for
the hospitality of a farmer named Thorn
as Pingree, who lived near the scene of
the accident and who filled his house
with sufferers, many who escaped the
wreck with little or no clothing would
have frozen To death.
THIRTY-NINE BODIES RECOVERED.
At this hour (midnighU thirty nine
bodies in all have been recovered from
the wreck, and il is positively known
that forty-twO persons persisted. while
there Is a probability that number of
other cOrpses will he found in the wreck
or under the ice of the creek. Just how
many persons We're killed canno. be
ascertained while there exists so much
uncertainty as to the number on the
train. OF the bodies recovered, eight
have been identified.
SEVENTY PROBABLY KILLED.
One of the wrecked cars on the ice has
not yet been Overhauled. and it is
| thought that at least twenty bodies are
in the debris. Should this prove true il
will run the list of killed up to over
sixty. This will not include those which
may have been carried into the river
through the ice. The latest computa-
ton as to the nun her of persons on the
train places it at 100. When the last car
on the ice is overhauled to morrow and
further Identification takes place, a more
complete list of the killed will be Oht ain
able. although it is thought that a score
of the bodies already recovered are so
disfigured by being crushed and burned
as to preclude any possibility of being
identified. Many of the survivors will
probably die of der wounds. Consid-
| ering the height from which the lars fell
and the speed which the train was run
| ming. il is regarded as miraculous that
/ anyone on hoard oscaDad